Sugar Sweet Sugar

Nine and a half months ago I decided to work with a personal trainer online. She has an eight week diet/exercise program and I thought it would help me focus on my nutritional needs as well as push myself physically. I was right. Megan from munchercruncher.com is simply my favorite health and fitness guru in all the world. It's not an exaggeration to say that she changed my life.

The biggest way my life changed was cutting out sugar. I knew I loved sugar, but I didn't understand before working with her that I was addicted to sugar. Truly it was my drug of choice. Once I cut out the sugar, the headaches that I had been getting on at least a bi-weekly basis suddenly disappeared. It was a small miracle. I have been getting headaches regularly for as long as I can remember. I had pretty much given up on figuring out why, so this was a wonderful revelation. After the eight weeks was up, I discovered that sugar just didn't bring me the same joy that it once had. Because of that,  I mostly have given it up. If my kids get an ice cream cone, I'll take a lick (mommy tax). If I make a delicious dessert when company comes over, sometimes I have a bite or two, sometimes more (knowing that I will most-likely suffer from a headache if I do, but at least I know why). Sometimes I pass on dessert all together.

Now don't confuse "passing on dessert altogether" with "I never eat treats." Because I do. There are plenty of treats that aren't sweetened with sugar. And I enjoy those often. Stevia, I love you.

It might sound extreme but it works for me. I try not to force it on anyone (though my family eats less sweets automatically since I don't bake/buy as many as I did), and my kids know that "mom doesn't eat much sugar because it gives her a headache." I can honestly say that I have never felt better. It's hard to pass on dessert sometimes, but not nearly as hard as dealing with nasty headaches on the regular.

Snickering

My People.

Tonight I was helping Nathan read his verse of scripture during family scripture study. I read a line at a time to him and he repeated it to the family. It just so happened that the word ass was in his verse. As soon as he recited it to the family, snickers from the three older kids came in rapid succession. Nate must have been really tired because he didn't even notice. After reading the new word, he paused and said, "Mom? What's an ass?" That's when everyone erupted in laughter. Davis then proceeded to find ways to say "dumb ass" over and over throughout scripture study. I told him that his teacher most definitely would not find that phrase as funny as his siblings do.

Totally Worth It.

I believe I've mentioned before that we live in a small town. Like, really small. A no-stop-lights, no-grocery-stores, one-teeny-tiny-gas-station-kind-of-town. There are a couple of other homes on our street, but no children reside in them. I often dream about living in a neighborhood where the kids run from house to house and have a little gang of friends around them all the time. My sister lives in that kind of neighborhood. It seems kind of magical. Our home in Gilbert was located in that kind of neighborhood. But those kinds of neighborhoods don't really exist in rural Maine. I have discovered, though, that because my children don't have a neighborhood posse, they rely on each other. A lot. And while they fight a lot, they also really love each other. Especially these two. And that makes living in rural Maine totally worth it.

Autumn Time

We are soaking up these warm Autumn days as long as we can. We have had better weather this summer/fall in Maine than I can ever remember, anywhere. Winter is right around the corner (and daylight savings---hello 4pm sunsets!) but I am hoping to take it in stride this year---a few more fires in the wood stove, a few more movies and popcorn in the living room, and a few less down-in-the-dumps days.

So Much Love

This is how we feel about having Grandma and Grandpa in town. So much love.